Steering his Chevy truck down the steep incline of Duperu Drive on a bright summer morning, Steve Nordin turns his head, smiles and says: "There are no flat spots in Crockett."

The words are spoken with absolute conviction - as if he were a medieval astronomer proclaiming, contrary to popular belief, that the world was actually round and that the Earth revolved around the sun.

Knowing Nordin's credentials, it would be foolish to dispute his claim: He was born and raised in the hamlet on a hill overlooking the site in Contra Costa County where the Carquinez Strait flows into San Pablo Bay. Before his knees gave out, he spent his working life trudging the streets of Crockett delivering the mail on a daily route that measured 12 miles. Essentially, he walked around the Earth's equator (9,449 miles) every three years without leaving town.

Nordin, now 60 and retired, can tell you a few other things about Crockett - which, with its town meetings, low crime rate and annual community events, retains the feel of small-town America during the 1950s. It also happens to be, say local real estate agents, one of the only places in the Bay Area where it's possible to buy a home with a view of the water for less than $200,000.

"I like the smallness of it, the neighborhood feel, the safety," says Nordin. "If you're the type of individual that likes a quiet life and doesn't mind going out of town to shop, it's perfect."

Company town

A census-designated place of some 3,200 souls surrounded by rolling hills and parkland, the town was started in 1867 when Thomas Edwards built his homestead here. Following the startup of the C&H sugar refinery in 1906, Italian, Portuguese and other European immigrants settled in Crockett.

Nordin grew up hanging out with his buddies at a club, which had a swimming pool, bowling alley, rifle range and basketball courts that C&H built for the residents.

And each Christmas, Nordin, like every other child in Crockett, would receive a color-coded card from C&H in the mail. Following the annual company-sponsored production of "The Nutcracker," he stood in line with the rest of the kids to exchange his card for a gift.

At that time, the town was roughly divided in half: West of Second Avenue was Valona, where the Italians and Portuguese lived; east was Tenney Terrace, where everybody else resided. The actor Aldo Rey, recalls Nordin, grew up in a white house in Valona.

The houses built around the turn of the century were mostly Victorians. A smattering of them remain, some have been remodeled, others have not. Later, during the '20s and '30s, Craftsman and Mediterranean-style homes were built, usually one, two or three at a time. The largest and most recent development was Vista Carquinez, 127 modern-style homes built during the early '80s. Before moving to Vista Carquinez in 1985, Nordin, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,100-square-foot home they purchased for $42,500 in 1978.

Doing a deal over coffee

A few doors down the narrow winding street from his old home on Alexander Avenue, Nordin points out the white wooden house with a porch that his mother purchased in 1944 for $4,000. When his father returned home from the service, he built a larger home for the family on Steven's Court.

"In those days," says Nordin, "homes didn't go on the market. No one ever put an ad in the paper. You would ask the mailman. It was all done by word of mouth."

Sharon Clark, a broker with Signature Realty, says things haven't changed that much. "Property still changes hands over a cup of coffee," says Clark. "It's very 1950s. It's very primitive, but that's OK because primitive is simple and simple works."

Clark moved to Crockett in 1994 from neighboring Solano County, shortly after she stumbled on the town and discovered she could "have a really nice, decent home with a water view for a couple of hundred thousand."

In a lot of ways, says Clark, Crockett is very Bohemian, nonconforming. Artists and other residents of San Francisco, Berkeley and other Bay Area locales moved there because they liked the laid-back atmosphere.

"We refer to ourselves as early grunge," she says, "kind of a shabby chic."

An agent with Security Pacific Real Estate Inc. in Richmond, Pat Prendiville has been helping clients find homes in the western half of Contra Costa County for the past 32 years. His grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1911 and worked at nearby Port Costa.

"It used to be that you had to wait until somebody died (to find a home available in Crockett)," says Prendiville, "And often, the home would go from family member to family member."

Currently, he says, there are 22 homes for sale in Crockett. There's a townhouse built in the '80s listed at $225,000. A 1,223-square-foot cottage billed as "an artist's dream" on Lillian Street, built in 1898, is offered at $299,950. Overall, homes currently on the market are listed from $172,000 to $480,000.

"West County as a whole is a sleeper," says Prendiville. "Anywhere else these homes would be twice that amount with that view of the water."

Political diversity

Politically, says Clark, Crockett is a microcosm of America. It took her a while to learn that if you want to get something done, there's a certain way to go about doing it. There are frequent town meetings, and the Crockett Improvement Association can be a formidable ally.

One of the biggest things going on in Crockett recently, she says, was the relocation of the town's post office after C&H refused to renew the lease on the property. More recently, unincorporated Crockett made an agreement with the county to develop its own service district to maintain community properties. "Someone always has something to say," says Clark. "Every single person makes a difference here."

Nordin brakes at a stop sign at Pomona and Second Avenue, the unofficial line of demarcation between Tenney Terrace and Valona. Storefronts in brick buildings line the old streets of downtown. Ahead, on the left, a good-size lunch crowd fills the Valona Deli. Across from the deli, there are a couple of art galleries and a bar, the Club Tac. Down the street to the right, the neon outline sign of a curvaceous female reclining in a martini glass beckons customers to Toot's bar. Across the street, What's On Second antique store sings its siren song to the past.

"If you want to know what's going on in Crockett," says Nordin, "you read the community board."

Pinned, stapled or taped to the board posted on the south side of Pomona, the notices advertise an upcoming art show at Port Costa, an offer to learn how to dance with the New World Scottish Dancers, and a sale of books and videos at the Crockett Library. There's also an offer of a $20 reward for Sheba, a lost dog of mixed pedigree.

'We're very social'

Annual events in Crockett include a fish fry put on by the Boy Scouts, a pasta dinner by the Lion's and a wine tasting party. This year, for the first time, the town sponsored a Summer Concert Series - community barbecues held at the Community Recreation Center, where rock, blues and reggae groups performed. "There's a lot of things going on in this town," says Ron Wilson, manager of Crockett's Recreation Department. "We're very social."

At the western edge of town on San Pablo Avenue, Nordin stops at the newly constructed Vista Point. Back in the day, he says, his father used to bring him out here to grab a bite at the Chat 'n Chew, long since gone. And sometimes you could hear the big guns firing on the practice range at Mare Island, visible in the distance off to the left.

He still likes to come out here once in a while to take in the view, especially at night when the lights of cities across the strait shine like stars.

"I just like the feel of Crockett," he says. "The part of me that grew up here and enjoyed my childhood very much, that's not here now, but it's in me."